Ron Friedmann

Out today on EDRM's JD Supra Channel, John Tredennick and Dr. William Webber share their latest GenAI insights in this great article from EDRM's Trusted Partner Merlin Search Technologies! 📝 Handwritten Notes. Poor Scans. Missed Evidence? Not with Alchemy Textract. Traditional OCR often falls short in the legal arena—missing handwritten notes, misreading forms, and overlooking crucial data hidden in complex document layouts. In their latest piece, John Tredennick and Dr. William Webber of Merlin Search Technologies introduce Alchemy Textract, a powerful AI-enhanced OCR solution that changes the game. 🔥 Why It Matters: In a recent global investigation, over 80,000 documents processed with standard OCR missed key handwritten annotations and critical table data. Alchemy Textract succeeded where others failed—extracting full content and preserving context. 🔍 What Makes It Different: • Reads both printed and handwritten text with remarkable accuracy • Maintains form structure and contextual relationships • Transforms disorganized scans into AI‑ready content • Supports rapid search, summarization, and timeline creation • Enables law firms to reduce review time and focus on analysis 📌 Real-World Impact: In one securities case, margin notes captured only by Textract uncovered pivotal evidence—reshaping the investigation's direction. As discovery becomes increasingly data-intensive, advanced text extraction isn't a luxury—it's the foundation for effective legal intelligence. 🔗 Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g2AYyn7F Holley Robinson Mary Mack, CISSP #LegalTech #AI #eDiscovery #OCR #DocumentIntelligence #LitigationSupport #HandwritingRecognition #DigitalTransformation

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291 pages into the "One Big Beautiful Bill," Section 43201(c) creates a federal moratorium preventing states from enforcing any AI regulation - including existing laws on #deepfakes, nonconsensual imagery, and consumer protection. 40 out of 50 state Attorneys General and 140+ organizations opposed this provision. It affects hundreds of existing state laws, not to mention opening the floodgates for major market players to exploit the data they already have. Every day, we are seeing federal policy systematically dismantle the regulatory frameworks that smart, thoughtful people have spent years building. States like California, Colorado, and others have pioneered ethical AI oversight. This bill would eliminate that progress and replace it with nothing. The broader pattern is concerning: from gutting diplomatic expertise at State/USAID to imposing impossible work requirements on food assistance recipients, we're witnessing the deliberate dismantling of institutional knowledge and social infrastructure. For those of us in tech policy, our professional expertise increasingly feels irrelevant when evidence-based governance is abandoned. The burnout is real when you see carefully constructed regulatory frameworks and support systems—pesky things like human rights, civil rights, environmental regulations protecting consumers, healthcare and research funding, I can go on—destroyed overnight. This isn't "political:" it's about whether expertise, institutional knowledge, and evidence-based policy still matter in America. Do you think they do, or are we all just waiting for the crash and hoping to rebuild after? #AIGovernance #DataPrivacy #TechPolicy #RegulatoryPolicy #nokings

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Just published this Law360 article on what to watch out for when drafting "AI" terms for your vendors. PDF version attached for non-subscribers. https://lnkd.in/eRR_R8wT

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Investing in the next generation of legal talent isn't just the right thing to do — it's essential to the future of the profession.    At Thomson Reuters, we're committed to equipping tomorrow's lawyers with the same trusted, professional-grade AI that is transforming work across the industry today. That's why we're providing students at more than 200 U.S. law schools (over 120,000 future professionals) with access to CoCounsel Legal and Deep Research from Westlaw.    These agentic AI tools reflect the standard we believe the legal profession deserves: accurate, reliable, transparent, and built on the deep content and editorial expertise that has always set our products apart.    For students, this means entering the workforce with real confidence. They will be ready to deliver higher-value work from day one. For the profession, it means a new wave of talent able to leverage innovation, strengthen trust, and shape what comes next. Read more here: https://lnkd.in/e-ehrve8

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What are the real opportunities, and risks, when it comes to eDiscovery in 2025? In this clip, Joey Seeber breaks down why we’re excited about the possibilities for efficiency—and why we need to treat the rise of AI with both optimism and care. With AI and LLMs (hopefully) moving past hype to real workflows, the advantage won’t come from adopting tools off the shelf. It will come from tailoring them to the unique data, teams, and matters at hand. 

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A must read for litigants and those responding to inquiries/investigations as a cautionary tale against working with unproven technology lacking human supervision and oversight.

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New York and California are leading the way in AI governance with recent companion model laws, but federal preemption is on the horizon. New York's General Business Law Article 47 (effective November 2025) and California's SB 243 provide robust requirements for AI "companion models"—systems designed to engage users in personal or emotional interactions—ensuring strong disclosure, notification, and user protection standards (effective January 2026). These state laws reflect a growing emphasis on transparency and responsible AI in consumer-facing systems. However, the federal landscape is rapidly evolving: the White House has circulated a draft executive order, "Eliminating State Law Obstruction of National AI Policy," which would block states from enforcing regulations around artificial intelligence, signalling a renewed push for AI deregulation. If adopted, this order would initiate legal challenges against state statutes, restrict federal funding for states with conflicting AI laws, and urge federal agencies to establish uniform disclosure and reporting standards for AI nationwide. Tracking both state initiatives and national policy moves will be key to navigating the future of AI regulation.

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Day Pitney Technology Counsel Laura Himelstein recently authored an article for the New York Law Journal titled, “Categorizing AI Tools to Calibrate Contract Terms and Third-Party Risk Management Controls.” In the article, Himelstein outlines a framework for classifying AI tools into three categories—deterministic, probabilistic, and agentic—to help organizations manage the legal, operational, and regulatory risks of each type. She details how proper categorization enables organizations to tailor contract terms and risk controls, avoid overemphasis on low-risk tools, and focus resources on higher-risk technologies to effectively harness the power of AI. #TechnologyLaw #NYLawyers #CTLawyers #ArtificalIntelligence #ContractRisk

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